


Angelic

by the_hyrule_shinigami



Series: Europe road trip with the Nakama AU [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Europe Road trip AU, F/M, Ishida is sleepy, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 19:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7281640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_hyrule_shinigami/pseuds/the_hyrule_shinigami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: "Things you said at 1:00 AM"</p><p>This is set in my Europe Road trip AU that I'll try to write more for in the future~</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angelic

The road through the Northern Italian Mountains was a maze of twists and turns, snaking up the sharp incline like a black mamba- the tiniest mistake could have disastrous consequences. It didn’t help that it was absolutely pitch black outside save for the flickering warmth of the ancient people carrier’s headlights, thanks to the gnarled, reaching branches that knotted themselves over the sky, but even that did little for visibility- just illuminated the ominous, swirling fog that clung to the road’s potholed surface. Occasionally, they’d pass over something larger- like a fallen tree trunk or the remnants of a landslide that had yet to be discovered.

What was worst of all, however, was Uryuu’s state of mind. He had been driving for at least the past 6 hours- which to be fair, he knew he shouldn’t have done, and could easily have prevented. But Orihime had been sleeping so serenely in the passenger seat he hadn’t wanted to wake her. The fact he was even still awake at all despite his hours on the road was largely due to his occasional stolen glances at her- when he wasn’t about to drive them off the cliff face of course. She wasn’t the only one, though- he was fairly certain that everyone else in the car was in a deep sleep- exactly how they could manage to through this living nightmare was completely lost to him.  


But he didn’t feel like stopping.  


In part, he was worried that if they stopped, another car just as blind as he was would smash into them from behind- or in front for that matter. He wasn’t really sure what side of the road he had been driving on for the past hour or so. But mainly it was because stopping would mean waking her up.  


The silence was maddening- even if he wanted music, there was about as much chance of getting a radio station out here as there was of the mist lifting. The trees seemed to strangle any sounds from the outside, and left his whole world feeling muted- even the bangs and whirrs of the car’s rickety engine seemed distant…  


The car swerved violently, tires screeching, and he shook himself, blinking furiously. Falling asleep on this road would be suicide.  


“Ishida…-kun?” A soft voice, heavy with sleep drawled next to him.  


“Ah- Inoue-san I’m so sorry, I-”  


“Oh no! What time is it?” She leaned over him to read the clock on his dashboard- 1:00 AM. “I’m so sorry Ishida-kun! I fell asleep didn’t I?” She cocked her head to one side, gently. “You must be exhausted! Why didn’t you wake me?” Uryuu kept his eyes trained firmly on the road in front, praying the darkness would hide the flush appearing on his cheeks.  


“I- I thought- you were- well, I… didn’t want to disturb you,” he managed eventually, “You were sleeping so peacefully, and…”  


The forest around them chose that exact moment to thin out completely, letting the moon’s sliver beams stream through the leaves. Orihime noticed the bright red shade his face had taken.  


“Are you too hot, Ishida-kun?” She shivered and brought her arms up to hug herself, “I’m freezing…”  


Uryuu instinctively shrugged his own jacket off his shoulders and offered it to her. “H-here, take mine… you’re right, I am too hot.”  


She took it gratefully,and slipped her arms through its sleeves. “Ok- now we switch.”  


He sighed, and glanced at her, “I couldn’t possibly ask you to drive- you should really go back to sleep…”  


She shook her head. “No, Ishida-kun- you look ready to fall asleep any minute. I promise you,” she said, placing a concerned hand on his right arm, “I’ll be fine.” Then she glanced over the current conditions outside, and turned back to him. “Well, as fine as you could be I suppo- Uryuu, you’re on the wrong side of the road!”  


“What?” He replied, astounded, swinging the car quickly over to the right. “You can tell through all that fog?”  


She furrowed her brow at him, “… The fog really isn’t _that_ thick, Ishida-kun. Please, let me take over and get yourself some rest!”  


He resigned himself to it- she was stubborn like that and there was no point in resisting. _Not that you could ever resist her anyway…_ A voice in the back of his mind seemed to jeer- that sounded suspiciously like Renji’s. In any case, she _was_ right. He was in no state to be driving.  


He pulled over at a small, make-do layby, and they both climbed out of the car. The appearance of the moon had drastically improved the visibility, and everything seemed to shine with a vaguely ethereal glow. _Especially_ , he thought to himself, _her._  


He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the way her face gleamed in the moonlight; the way her hair blew in an auburn halo around her in the rain-heavy air, and brightest of all, her huge, kind grey eyes- _Angelic… Angelic…_ seemed to be the extent of his vocabulary for the time being. He put it down to sleep deprivation.  


He made his way around the bonnet of the car, and was about to clamber inside the passenger door, when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.  


She wasn’t getting into the car. She wasn’t even looking at the car. She was staring wide-eyed out into the distance.  


“Ishida-kun… look at the view…” She gestured vaguely to the area below and beyond the mountains, before leaning herself on the bonnet of their people carrier and hugging her arms around her chest again.  


He straightened up and joined her, now feeling the cold as well- he was only wearing a thin sweater over a shirt, and you could definitely not tell it was supposedly summer up here.  


She was right, as ever. As far as the eye could see. Glittering lakes, thick pine forests and mountain villages that dotted the black hills with amber lanterns like fireflies, and beyond it all the faint glowing noise of a city and the murky horizon where the black ink of the sky spills into the sea below. There was a depth to the look in her eyes no ocean could ever match- an expression of pure wonder. There was that word again, echoing around his skull- _Angelic, angelic…_  


He could feel his own eyelids drooping, feel himself slipping…  


“Oh no! I’m so sorry Ishida-kun!” She exclaimed as he almost jumped up from the bonnet, turning his head away sharply. _Oh Christ, oh my-_ he felt like slapping himself- how could he-  


“I forgot- you’re really tired aren’t you- But…” She began, but then she turned her head away as well, and spoke in a peculiarly quiet voice that caused him to swing his head back around in surprise. “Y’know… If you want to… I wouldn’t mind it if you rested on my shoulder… again…” They were now both an equally vibrant shade of scarlet.  


“Inoue…-san, I-” His wrecked state gave him limited control over his choice of language- “O’ course- I’d love to.” He smiled, sleepily at her, and those bright, _bright_ eyes were shining brilliantly again.  


Correction: he had _no_ control over his words anymore: “To be honest, Inoue-san, I’ve wanted to be close to you for a while now…”  


She clapped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from chuckling at him- “Ishida-kun- you’re not _drunk_ as well as tired, are you?”  


He gave her a drowsy, lop-sided grin. “Don’t think so…”  


She just shook her head at him, pushing herself off the bonnet to help him into the car seat before he keeled over completely. _He looks so silly when he’s tired… such a cute smile…_ she mused, as she made her way round to the driver’s side of the car. Pulling the door closed behind her, she glanced over to seen Uryuu nearly completely out of it already. Cautiously, she placed a delicate hand over his cheek, and leant up to press her lips lightly to his forehead, making the corners of his mouth turn up into a tiny smile once again. _Please don’t regret this when you wake up…_ she wished, silently, before fastening her own seatbelt and turning the keys in the ignition.  


As she pulled the car gradually out of the layby, she felt his head shift a little so he was leaning on her shoulder, the faintest of whispers from his lips  


“Angelic… angelic…” He seemed to be murmuring over and over. She beamed down at him one more time, before winding back into the dark labyrinth of the mountain roads- at least now, there was a little moonlight to show them the way.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah! I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot. If you'd like me to write more in this au please leave a comment (and if you want me to stop messing around and get back to my other fic you can leave a comment saying that too lmao) or you could leave some kudos if you liked it <3


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